Diploma in

Global Sourcing

Diploma in Global Sourcing - DGS

Drive Results Towards Long-term Business Advantage

Procurement has traditionally been considered as an operational function focused on buying goods and services at the lowest price and reducing transactional costs. But procurement can be much more than this. Procurement’s unique position at the interface between the internal and external domains means that it can contribute value in a way that no other function can. Procurement teams have insights and relationships that they can leverage to promote an organization's strategic goals and develop competitive advantage. In future, procurement will not only be measured by cost savings delivered, but also by value created.

Do you and your company have the competencies needed to respond to this scenario or even to get ahead of the curve?

The Diploma in Global Sourcing program builds competencies that drive towards the best possible customer satisfaction by integrating procurement with other supply chain operations. You will acquire tools to help you and your company transform everything from sourcing strategies to processes to match the upgraded expectations.

The Diploma in Global Sourcing program was developed in cooperation with the Department of Industrial Engineering of Helsinki University of Technology (nowadays part of Aalto University) and continues to be developed in close collaboration with Aalto University.

The Diploma in Global Sourcing was first developed as a customized concept to strengthen procurement and sourcing practices in a large Finnish corporation. Since the introduction of the open Diploma program, more than 200 sourcing professionals have chosen to develop themselves and their companies with us. Procurement and sourcing have evolved considerably since the program was first introduced in 2008, and the program has developed in response. The program is delivered once a year.

The content of the program is aligned to companies’ and individuals’ development needs.

The learning methods used enable you to develop a broad understanding of sourcing at a practical level.

World-class experts with both academic and business strengths from Aalto University and other organizations will support your journey.

Benefits

After completing the program, participants will understand how to drive long-term business advantage throughout the network and supply chain in a digitalized world. The program provides fresh insights, applicable concepts and pragmatic tools that make your daily work more beneficial, effective and easier.

Develop sourcing strategies that generate value for all actors across the supply chain

Drive towards the best possible customer satisfaction by integrating sourcing with other supply chain operations

Learn to reduce costs while maximizing supplier value and opportunity

For

The program is for professionals in procurement, sourcing and supply management and with development responsibilities and the power to influence strategic decisions. The program is also suitable for people who act in collaboration with procurement, e.g. production, R&D or sales.

The Diploma in Global Sourcing program is especially valuable for managers, directors and chief officers in procurement, sourcing, purchasing, operations, production and sales. Participants in previous courses have worked, for example, as sourcing directors, category leads and supply chain managers.

Contents and Schedule

The Diploma in Global Sourcing – DGS program provides new insights, frameworks, tools and methods to support deeper understanding and to further encourage new points of view or even adoption of a totally new mindset.

Instead of lecturing on a broad variety of individual issues around buzzwords, our trainers focus on guiding participants to understand the key frameworks and being able to apply them effectively in their own organizations. We believe that a systematic and efficient learning process drives long-term impact in the development of professional identity.

Program structure

Four face-to-face sessions

The program includes four face-to-face modules (nine days in total) with lectures, discussions, case studies and workshops.

Online courses

Participants choose one online course from the selection according to their personal interests.

Literature and practical assignments

Literature and practical assignments help process new information, enhance learning and transform the knowledge gained during the program to make it relevant to the participant’s own work.

The program consists of interactive contact sessions, online courses, literature and practical learning assignments. Contact days represent a combination of lectures, discussions, case studies and workshops. The program will be launched in a Skype kick-off before the contact days.

The program is credited with 13 ECTS. To receive the Diploma, a participant must participate in 80% of the contact sessions and pass the compulsory assignments.

The participant’s role is to relate the information to their own experiences, beliefs and practices, and together with peers and faculty, to discuss, criticize, test and apply the new ideas and frameworks. Sharing and discussing ideas during the program can play a pivotal role in deepening understanding of a subject area. Collaborating with others will also help participants to identify their own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of their companies.

Online-courses

Participants must select one online course from the following:

Fundamentals of Change Management,

Fundamentals of Accounting,

Fundamentals of Strategic Management, and

Management Communication.

Completing the selected course is a mandatory part of the program. The objective is to learn the key issues that experts and managers need to knowabouta particular theme.

Literature

One professional book will be reviewed using a designated excel workbook template. The aim is to help the student to move beyond simply absorbing new information and learn to analyze and rethink their present knowledge, own way of working, experiences and ideas on how to utilize new information in their own company.

Field tests

Field tests provide students with the opportunity to implement theory and tools in practice and report the results.

Echo Teams

Echo Teams are groups of three to four co-workers recruited from outside the program by each participant and with whom they meet to discuss the topics that arise during the program. The aim of the Echo Teams is to increase the resonance of the program by making a direct link to the participants’ work and inspiring new talent throughout their organizations. The idea is that participants make the topics covered in the program relevant to their team members. The goal is to enhance learning and leverage ideas and insights more widely in the organization. Echo Team discussions will be reported using a designated template.

Modules

Instructors

All instructors – both Finnish and from international networks – are hand-picked for their combination of academic and business experience.

Dr. Thomas Johnsen

Professor of Supply Chain Management, Politecnico di Milano

For the last 15-20 years Thomas’ research has revolved around buyer-supplier relationships and supply networks. He currently works as Professor at the Politecnico di Milano and focuses on purchasing, innovation and sustainability.

Thomas is dedicated to developing the field of Purchasing & Supply Management (PSM), elevating PSM from an administrative cost-focused function into a truly strategic driver of business performance. He has published widely in scientific and practitioner-focused journals and magazines. His latest book, Purchasing & supply chain management: a sustainability perspective (Routledge), was co-authored with Mickey Howard and Joe Miemczyk.

Mikko Sandelin (MSc. econ.) finalizes his doctoral dissertation at Aalto University School of Business. His doctoral research focuses on management control systems from holistic perspective in order to understand effective combinations of financial planning, performance measurement and evaluation, rewarding, reporting lines, and cultural controls such as promotion, socialization, and training practices.

Sandelin helps organizations increase their responsiveness to changes in the operating environment by redesigning financial planning and measurement combinations, and by rethinking management through lean principles.

Timo Seppälä works as Professor of Practice, Digital Operations at the Aalto University and as Research Associate at The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy, ETLA. Seppälä’s research interest lie in contemporary global phenomena like digitalization, platform economy and global value chains as well as strategic management and internationalization of firms.

Seppälä's areas of expertise include Business Intelligence and Analyses, Global Business Unit and Account Management, Strategic and Operative Business Development, Supplier and Customer Relationship Management and Contract Negotiations. Dr. Seppälä has over 15 years of business experience in several Finnish and international companies for example Metso, OMG Kokkola Chemicals, Oracle, Elcoteq and SAP.

Mervi Vuori M.Sc.(Econ) is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in industrial management at Aalto University. Mervi works as a full-time project researcher at BIT Research Centre of the Aalto University.

Before project research, she has been working as a development manager in global sourcing in a paper and forest industry company, where she was responsible for the sourcing process, development of the e-sourcing system and training. Her research interests include using ICT within sourcing, social media including crowdsourcing, innovations in supplier networks and development of social capital in the sourcing function.

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